According to their website, ” The Green Map System (GMS) is a locally adaptable, globally shared framework for environmental mapmaking.”

Basically, it’s a collaborative worldwide project that is collecting Green Map projects together on one website and also offers tips and examples on using Green Maps in local community planning and education. They’ve already got an impressive list of projects from around the world (though many are still in progress or just started)

If you are interested in environmental issues and how geospatial technologies can be used, check out Greenmap.com

I saw a link to this article from Federal Computer Weekly over on The Map Room and, while a number of blogs, including ours, have previously covered the consolidation of USGS mapping activities in Denver, this article talks a little bit more about the implications of the move.

This is a pretty cool project that I just read about via Wired. It is about mapping our world based on our perception of it, not just by physical coordinates. It was started only a month ago by Michael Baldwin, an English teacher living in Brazil.
You can participate in the project by going to CommonCensus.org and adding your address and answering a few questions.

You may or may not already know this, but a controversy that could change the way the Internet is run has been simmering since the spring and now will be coming to a head next month at the U.N. meeting on the Information Society. Basically, the US has always controlled the root servers for the Internet, through the private company known as ICANN. During the Clinton administration, a memorandum of understanding was apparently signed saying the US would eventually give up some of that control. In April, the Bush administration announced that the US would no longer be abiding by that agreement. There have been tense negotiations since then, but after no luck getting the US to budge, the European Union and the UN are now putting together a coalition to wrest control of the Internet from the US at the meeting in Tunisia in November. The implications of this will be far-reaching, and anyone who depends on the Internet should be paying attention to how this plays out.

The Guardian, a UK newspaper has been covering this, and you might want to check out their most recent article

US media outlets have had a couple of mentions, but not a lot of coverage. It has also been mentioned on SlashDot and other blogs.

A project will be getting underway this winter to map 19 poor and underserved communities in San Jose. This is the continuation of a community mapping project begun in 2003. Residents themselves, working with other groups, will be using GPS, handhelds, and digital cameras to survey their neighborhoods.

The hope is that results from these survey will continue to help city officials understand the conditions and needs in these communities.

You can read the full article at the Christian Science Monitor website

I was checking out the MapPoint magazine website this morning, and I came across this video from back in August. It the “real” story behind the making of Virtual Earth. You can’t go wrong with a dude in a butterfly suit.